Undergraduate research opportunities at Washington University in St. Louis have come a long way in a few short years.
When the first symposium to showcase undergraduates’ research was held in spring 2005, there were just 15 participants.
This weekend, 210 undergraduates — the largest number to date — will showcase their research projects through poster presentations and visual and oral presentations during the Fall Undergraduate Research Symposium Saturday, Oct. 27.
The event, which will be held from noon until 4 p.m. in the Laboratory Sciences Building and in Olin Library, is free and open to the public.
Students, faculty and others in the Washington University community are encouraged to attend to see the diversity of undergraduate research happening on campus.
“It’s a great way for other students to learn what undergraduate research is and to see it in a wide variety of disciplines,” says Joy Z. Kiefer, PhD, director of the Office of Undergraduate Research and assistant dean in the College of Arts & Sciences.
“The symposium is also a way for students to figure out the path to get started in research by talking to fellow undergraduates in a low-key, non-intimidating way,” she says.
Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton and Kiefer will make remarks during the opening ceremony at noon in Room 300 of the Laboratory Sciences Building.
Two Arts & Sciences faculty members, Kenneth F. Kelton, PhD, and Liviu M. Mirica, PhD, will be recognized as “Undergraduate Research Mentors of the Year.”
Kelton, the Arthur Holly Compton Professor of Arts & Sciences and former chair of physics, was nominated by Zachary Markow, a senior majoring in physics and in mathematics with a minor in chemistry, all in Arts & Sciences.
Mirica, assistant professor of chemistry, was nominated by Sungho Park, a senior majoring in chemistry.
Mirica, whose research addresses important metal-mediated processes with energy, biological and medical relevance, will give the keynote address.
Three students will follow Mirica’s talk with research presentations.
Jennifer A. Stevens, a senior majoring in biology and in Spanish in Arts & Sciences, will deliver a talk on “Coevolution of Sensory Systems: Comparing the Role of Visual and Electrosensory Systems in the Social Communication Behavior of Weakly Electric Fish.”
Jessica Page, a senior majoring in international and area studies and in Arabic in Arts & Sciences, will discuss her research on “Ethnography of Rainbow Street in Amman, Jordan,” and Colleen Rhoades, a senior majoring in applied science (electrical engineering) with a minor in systems science and engineering, will present “A Tactile Perception System for Sensing the Visual World.”
A poster presentation featuring 210 student research projects will take place from 1:30 to 4 p.m. on Olin Library’s main level.
Following the poster presentations, two more students will deliver presentations on their research from 3:30 to 4 p.m. in Olin Library’s ARC Presentation Room.
Aaron Lim, a junior majoring in biology with a minor in French in Arts & Sciences, will discuss “The MicroRNA Component of Arf and Pten-regulated Translation in Astrocytes,” and Emily Ma, a junior majoring in biology with a minor in Spanish, will present on “Global Transcriptome Analysis of Response to Uropathogenic E. coli Infection in a Murine Menopause Model.”
For more information, visit ur.wustl.edu or contact Kiefer at jkiefer@wustl.edu.